Students in Shock (1)

Author Unknown

    1  If you feel overwhelmed by your college experiences, you are not alone — many of today’s college students are suffering from a form of shock. Going to college has always had its ups and downs, but today the “downs” of the college experience are more numerous and difficult, a fact that the schools are responding to with increased support services.

    2  Lisa is a good example of a student in shock. She is an attractive, intelligent twenty-year-old college junior at a state university. Having been a straight-A student in high school and a member of the basketball and tennis teams there, she remembers her high school days with fondness. Lisa was popular then and had a steady boyfriend for the last two years of school.

    3  Now, only three years later, Lisa is miserable. She has changed her major four times already and is forced to hold down two part-time jobs in order to pay her tuition. She suffers from sleeping and eating disorders and believes she has no close friends. Sometimes she bursts out crying for no apparent reason. On more than one occasion, she has considered taking her own life.

    4  Dan, too, suffers from student shock. He is nineteen and a freshman at a local community college. He began college as an accounting major but hated that field. So he switched to computer programming because he heard that the job prospects were excellent in that area. Unfortunately, he discovered that he had little aptitude for programming and changed majors again, this time to psychology. He likes psychology but has heard horror stories about the difficulty of finding a job in that field without a graduate degree. Now he’s considering switching majors again. To help pay for school, Dan works nights and weekends as a sales clerk at K-Mart. He doesn’t get along with his boss, but since he needs the money, Dan feels he has no choice but to stay on the job. A few months ago, his girlfriend of a year and a half broke up with him.

    5  Not surprisingly, Dan has started to suffer from depression and migraine headaches. He believes that in spite of all his hard work, he just isn’t getting anywhere. He can’t remember ever being this unhappy. A few times he considered talking to somebody in the college psychological counseling center. He rejected that idea, though, because he doesn’t want people to think there’s something wrong with him.

    6  What is happening to Lisa and Dan happens to millions of college students each year. That means that roughly one-quarter of the student population at any time suffer from symptoms of student shock. Of that group, almost half experience depression intense enough for professional help. At schools across the country, psychological counselors are booked up months in advance. Stress-related problems such as anxiety, migraine headaches, insomnia, and anorexia are epidemic on college campuses.

    7  Suicide rates and self-inflicted injuries among college students are higher now than at any other time in history. The suicide rate among college youth is 50 percent higher than among non-students of the same age. It is estimated that each year more than five hundred college students take their own lives.

    8  College health officials believe that these reported problems represent only the tip of the iceberg. They fear that most students, like Lisa and Dan, suffer in silence. 

(530 words)

(To be continued)

1. Going to college has always had its ups and downs, but today the “downs” of the college experience are more numerous and difficult, a fact that the schools are responding to with increased support services. 

上大学自有它的苦和乐，但在今天，大学经历中的“苦”变得越来越多、越来越难。为了应对这一现状，许多学校正在增加支持性服务。 

fact 指的是 today the “ downs ”  of the college experience are more numerous and difficult 这个事实。

2. He likes psychology but has heard horror stories about the difficulty of finding a job in that field without a graduate degree. 

他喜欢心理学，但是又听到很多吓人的说法，都说在那个领域如果没有研究生学位很难找到工作。

3. He rejected that idea, though, because he doesn’t want people to think there’s something wrong with him. 

不过他还是打消了这个念头，因为他不想让别人觉得自己不正常。 

though 用在句子 he rejected the idea 后面表示转折，意思是“不过，然而” 。又如  ： I can’t attend your meeting. I can drive you there, though. 我不能参加你们的会议，不过我可以开车送你过去。

4. Of that group, almost half experience depression intense enough for professional help. 

在这个群体中，几乎有一半的人体验到情绪抑郁，其严重程度足以需要专业治疗。

这句话的主语可以重新安排为 almost half of that group 。 Of that group 提前是为了承接上文。

5. Suicide rates and self-inflicted injuries among college students are higher now than at any other time in history. 

现在，大学生中的自杀率和自残行为都高于历史上的任何时期。

这句话比较的是 now 和 any other time in history 。

6. The suicide rate among college youth is 50 percent higher than among non-students of the same age. 

在校大学生的自杀率比同龄的非大学生高出50%。 

than 后面省略了 the suicide rate 。